Barbour Decision on 2012 Presidential Race by End of April

There are a lot of people taking aim at Mitt Romney and his health care record these days. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi is not among them.

In a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where he appeared before the Congressional Health Care Caucus, Mr. Barbour deflected multiple questions about the health care plan Mr. Romney signed into law five years ago when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“Let Mitt have his day,” Mr. Barbour said. “I mean he just announced. Let him have his day.”

When pressed by a reporter about the Massachusetts health care law and its resemblance to the one championed by President Obama, he added: “I think the similarities are obvious. Whether there are political liabilities, you’ll have to ask someone else besides me on that.”

Mr. Barbour, who is scheduled to visit New Hampshire on Wednesday, has given every indication that he intends to explore a presidential candidacy. The Mississippi legislature is out of session and the state budget is resolved — two hurdles that he has said needed to be out of the way before he made his decision.

“People know we need a change,” Mr. Barbour said. “There will be a lot of candidates potentially running for the Republican nomination — good people. I think the public is wanting to get to know more about us — them — however it turns out.”

As the Republican field begins to take shape — far slower than in recent years — considerable attention has been paid to the strategists and operatives who are aligning with the various campaigns. Call it inside political baseball.

The latest move that caused a stir took place on Monday when Nick Ayers, who worked under Mr. Barbour as the executive director of the Republican Governors Association, joined Tim Pawlenty’s presidential exploratory bid. Some commentators suggested that the move by Mr. Ayers was a sign that Mr. Barbour was leaning against running.

When asked about his former staffer, Mr. Barbour called him “a good guy.” But he quickly pointed out that Mr. Ayers was actually “Governor Perdue’s campaign manager,” referring to Sonny Perdue, the governor of Georgia, not his longtime aide.

And, Mr. Barbour said, the decision by Mr. Ayers “has nothing to do” with his plans.

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